The View In The Mirror
by OutInTheStorm
Summary: A little magic, just a little problem.... Sarah tries her hand at a spell, but nothing ever goes according to plan...
1. Default Chapter

AN: This story has been floating around on my hard-drive for the good part of two years, and it is finally to a point where I have to finish it or go insane. Not sure which yet. Maybe both. 

Any mistakes are my own, and due to my own stubbornness. This is a fluffy story, people. Don't look for historical accuracy here.

Much thanks and love to Saxonny, my long-suffering beta. Go and read her stuff. It's amazing. And thanks, too, to those lovely people who read this at various stages of it's incarnation and told me their thoughts.

Now, everyone knows that no-one belongs to me, right? Oh, except for Joy. And Chris. But you can borrow them if you ask nicely.

Please review!! I love to know what you are thinking.

~~~

**Chapter 1  
**  
Sarah's mouth stretched in a huge yawn, and she slumped further down into her chair. The warm, stuffy air in the lecture hall was making her sleepy, and Professor McDonald's droning voice reminded her of a bee buzzing against a window. Her eyelids drooped lower and lower.  
  
A sharp poke in her ribs made her sit up and glare at the girl next to her. Joy just grinned back at her and surreptitiously slid a note across the desk towards her. Sarah glanced at it and blushed.  
  
_You were beginning to snore. And drool is not a good look on you._  
  
Scribbling "Thanks" underneath it, Sarah pushed the note back to Joy, and tried again to concentrate. Neuropsychology, a class she was normally so focussed and interested in, but today, her mind just wanted to wander. She began doodling mindlessly in her lecture pad. Circles, squiggles, a heart, a rose. One eye, another, a sharp aquiline nose, thin lips, the suggestion of hair....  
  
A note being pushed under her hand interrupted her drawing. With a quick glance at the lecturer to see if she was being watched, she opened it.  
  
_Are you going to come clubbing with us tonight?  
_  
She looked up at Joy, who was looking at her with an air of expectancy, and shook her head slightly. Joy frowned.  
  
"Why not?" she mouthed.  
  
Sarah sighed, scribbling her answer.  
  
_Because I don't want to be a third wheel with you and Chris. And I don't want you guys trying to set me up again_.  
  
She pushed the note back over to Joy, and turned back to her drawing. No, the shading wasn't quite right over the cheekbones. She pulled out her eraser and used it to smudge away some of the darkness. Much better......  
  
The note was pushed back under her hand.  
  
_Wow! Who is that you are drawing?_   
  
Sarah looked down at the picture in front of her, and suddenly started in disbelief. Jareth! A crude rendering, but it was him, staring out from the page as he had stared at her in the final minutes of their confrontation.   
  
She glanced up at Joy, and realised that the people around her were gathering up their books and bags; the lecture was over. She quickly closed her lecture pad and shoved it into her own bag, then flung it over her shoulder and got up. Joy pulled on her sleeve.   
  
"Wait for me - I'll just be a second."  
  
Sarah watched as her friend walked to the front of the hall and talked to the professor. She smiled, and then closed her eyes. Why, after all this time, couldn't she forget her childish dreams of Jareth? They had haunted her all through her adolescence. It was only when she had come to University and begun to study Psychology that she had been able to look at them clinically. She had read any book that she could get her hands on, devouring any knowledge she could find to explain why she felt the way she did, why she had experienced what she had. Why she felt so different from the people around her.  
  
From her studies, she realised that she had created him in her need to have control of her life at a time when she felt that she had been abandoned; by her mother leaving for her career; by her father marrying again and having another child. She had needed to feel like she had power over the path her life had taken, so she had created a fantasy world of the Labyrinth, complete with riddles and obstacles to overcome.  
  
All alone in her life, she had needed friends, allies against the problems she had come up against, and she had created them, not realising at the time that they were parts of her. Now she understood. Hoggle was a manifestation of her sense of guilt and self-doubt, of cowardice and selfishness, of abandonment and betrayal, that in the end had changed it's nature and helped her help herself. She had obviously given him an ugly exterior, because these were things that she had not wanted to face in the beginning, but it had also taught her the lesson to look beyond the exterior and find the goodness within.  
  
Ludo had been her inner child. He had looked frightening, but in reality, had been scared of the wilderness he had found himself in. She thought that she needed to protect him, but in the end, he could protect himself. She had found, through his appearance in the Labyrinth, that she had a strength she did not realise she had.  
  
She had known instantly what Sir Didymus had represented. He had been the self-righteous part of her that had believed, no matter what the fight, that she was the one on the side of good. He was her instinct to rush headlong into things and not think about the consequences. She had not needed him in the end because she knew she could deal with her problems herself, and could defeat them logically without letting passion make her irrational.   
  
And that left Jareth.   
  
A smile flitted over Sarah's face. Ah, the joys of adolescence and hormones, she mused. It was not surprising that she needed to control the emotions that she felt inside of her, the wild and cruel side of her, her newfound sexuality, and so she had created Jareth, a symbol of all of the things that she didn't understand about herself, and then she had destroyed him.   
  
She understood now that she had done these things in her head, that it was all a fantasy construct in which she came to grips with the reality that was her life. She had felt a fleeting disappointment that the magic she had believed in since she was a little girl was not real, but knew that as a grown up, she no longer needed to believe in magic. Magic wasn't real.  
  
So why couldn't she exorcise the ghost that was Jareth?


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**  
  
She felt Joy touch her shoulder and opened her eyes. Joy was looking at her with concern written large on her face, but Sarah smiled reassuringly at her and began heading out the door.   
  
"Lunch?" she enquired.  
  
They walked out into the hot summer sun and made their way towards the cafeteria.   
  
Joy pulled a pair of sunglasses out of her bag and slipped them onto her nose.  
  
"Phew! A few days more like this and I will be a big melted puddle of goo!"  
  
Sarah looked down at her petite friend and grinned.  
  
"Well, if you didn't wear black all the time, you wouldn't be so hot!"  
  
Joy snorted. "What is the good of being a Goth if you don't dress the part?"  
  
She looked Sarah up and down appraisingly.  
  
"Although, if I looked like you, I wouldn't need to be a Goth! You look good in anything!"  
  
It was Sarah's turn to snort. She was wearing her usual attire of jeans and a t-shirt, and although she thought she looked okay, she knew she didn't look out of the ordinary. She was just plain Sarah Williams.  
  
_Not like she was in the ballroom - she had known that she was beautiful, that everyone admired her, and that the King had been looking just for her....._  
  
She shook her head to dislodge the thought. For God's sake, Sarah, get a grip! She told herself angrily. If you don't stop living in a dream world, they are going to come and lock you away!  
  
Joy looked at her in concern.  
  
"Are you okay, Sarah? You seem so spaced out today."  
  
Sarah nodded.  
  
"Just tired I guess." She spotted someone waving from under a stand of trees. "Hey, isn't that Chris?"  
  
Joy turned to look, and then waved furiously.  
  
"Yep! Looks like he was waiting for us! I hope he has lunch."  
  
They wandered over, ducking under the branches and tripping over other students who were sitting in the shade. They finally made it to where Chris was sitting. He had spread out his jacket and had arranged what looked to be lunch on top of it. Joy squealed delightedly and flung herself at him, nearly knocking him over in her happiness. Sarah grinned at them both. They were so different, she mused. Joy was a petite, curvy woman, with long hennaed hair that reached down to her waist and beautiful grey-green eyes that always reflected exactly what she was feeling. She dressed in dark gothic clothing, always wearing long flowing skirts and dresses, dark eyeliner and dark lipstick. Chris, in direct contrast, was tall, blonde and blue eyed, athletic and the "golden boy" of the university. But there was no doubting that they loved each other completely and deeply.  
  
Chris untangled himself from Joy's arms and smiled up at Sarah.  
  
"So, how's my other lady doing?"  
  
He winced as Joy poked him in the ribs. He grabbed her hands and pulled so that she fell on top of him, then took the opportunity to give her a great smacking kiss as she struggled to get up. Sarah sank to the ground gratefully and watched them wrestle, envying the closeness that they shared. She looked at the huge lunch that Chris had laid out on his jacket. Club Sandwiches, packets of chips, cookies and Coke. She cleared her throat.  
  
"Is this for me, too?"  
  
Chris looked up at her from under a tangle of Joy's hair and gestured with one free hand.  
  
"Help yourself, I got enough for all of us."  
  
Joy poked him again as Sarah reached for a club sandwich and a can of Coke. She took a bite and watched Joy untangle herself from Chris and smooth her hair before grabbing a sandwich of her own.  
  
"So, what took you guys so long?" Chris asked, grabbing a packet of chips and ripping them open. "I was almost going to start without you."  
  
Sarah pointed at Joy. "Ask her, she was being all chatty with the lecturer after Neuropsyche."  
  
Joy poked Sarah with her toe. "Well, if you hadn't have fallen asleep, I wouldn't have had to ask him if the notes for the lecture were going to be available on the Uni web site."  
  
Sarah smiled gratefully at her around a mouthful of sandwich. "I couldn't help it," she mumbled, "I was just so bored."  
  
"It wouldn't have something to do with this would it?" Joy pounced on Sarah's bag and pulled out her lecture pad. Before Sarah could stop her, Joy had flipped to the page that Sarah had been doodling on in class and passed it to Chris.  
  
"Hey!" Sarah yelled, and dived at Chris, but he easily fended her off with one hand as he looked at the page with the other.   
  
"Hey, Sarah, this is an excellent drawing! The guy doesn't look familiar, though. Do we know him?"  
  
Sarah managed to grab the book off of him and closed it, pulling it tight against her chest.  
  
"No, you guys don't know him!" She sighed as she looked at their expectant faces. "Look, he's just a figment of my imagination, okay? He's this dream guy I made up when I was younger. He's not real!"  
  
Joy sighed. "I was kind of hoping that he was the reason that you don't want to come clubbing with us tonight. That you had a prior date that you just weren't letting me in on."  
  
Sarah smiled at her. "Like I would keep something like that from you! Look, you two, I love you both, but I just don't feel like going out tonight. I know you just want me to be happy and find a guy, but it's just not that simple." She shrugged. "I'm guess I'm just picky."  
  
Joy giggled. "You are if your drawing is anything to go by!" She moved next to Sarah and threw her arm around her. "I just know that there's a perfect guy out there for you, we just have to find him." She snapped her fingers. "I think I know a way..."  
  
Sarah stared at her bemusedly as Joy grabbed her backpack and rummaged through it. After a few seconds of searching, she pulled out a small book and handed it to Sarah.  
  
Sarah looked at it. There was no writing on the outside of the book, just glittery swirls. She opened the cover and read the title.  
  
**_Spells for the Modern Witch_**  
  
Sarah snorted and handed the book back to Joy. "Come on," she scoffed, "do I look so desperate that I have to resort to witchcraft to get a guy?"  
  
Joy sighed. "It's not like that at all. Look, just read it. In fact, I think I saw the perfect spell in here..." She quickly flipped through the pages. "Ah, here it is!" She inserted a sparkly bookmark between the pages and handed it back to Sarah.  
  
Sarah sighed and shook her head, but dropped the book into her bag with her lecture pad. "You know I don't believe in magic..." she started, but Joy interrupted her.  
  
"I know, I know." She shrugged. "But what can it hurt?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**  
  
Sarah closed the door to her apartment behind her and breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, the day had come to an end. She had had three lectures after lunch, but had not been able to concentrate through any of them. Her mind had kept straying to thoughts of Jareth, and then, strangely enough, had wandered to the book in her bag. She was curious; she had to admit, to see just what spell Joy thought would work for her. She had known that Joy was into witchcraft from the very first time she had met her in Psychology class.   
  
It had been about a week into the first semester when Sarah had sat next to this pretty Goth girl in the lecture hall and had begun to pull out her books. The girl had been leant forward, toying with a pendant suspended from a cord around her neck, and as the light had caught on it, Sarah had gasped to see that it was a tiny crystal ball held in a silver hand. The girl had heard her intake of air and turned towards her, her fingers still caressing the smooth surface of the sphere, and smiled at her.   
  
"Hypnotic, isn't it?" The girl had glanced down at the pendant, then back up at Sarah. "It's a focus crystal." Suddenly, she had leant in close towards Sarah and stared into her eyes. "Are you a witch, too?"   
  
Taken aback, Sarah had shaken her head and blurted out the first thing that had come to her head. "I don't believe in magic."  
  
The girl had paused, her eyes searching over Sarah's face. "Are you sure? Because you look like someone who would believe…" Abruptly, she had leant back, tucking the pendant into her blouse. "Never mind. It's just that, normally, people who are into magic get drawn to my necklace. It's a focus crystal." She smiled at Sarah again, and Sarah felt an answering smile curve her lips.   
  
The girl stuck out her hand. "I'm Joy, by the way." She laughed at Sarah's expression. "Yeah, I know, a Goth named Joy." She raised an eyebrow. "The fates have an ironic sense of humour."  
  
Sarah had laughed with her. "I'm Sarah." She had felt drawn to this girl, so when Joy had invited her to go for coffee after the lecture was over, Sarah had accepted. They had been inseparable ever since.   
  
But occasionally, when the pendant slipped out from under the neckline of Joy's clothing, or when Joy was playing with it, Sarah felt drawn to it, to look into its depths and be hypnotised.  
  
Sarah sighed again, and made her way into the kitchen, dropping her bag on the couch as she passed it. Her apartment was small, little more than a kitchen, a lounge room, a bathroom and two bedrooms, but it was hers, and it was private. She had saved all of her money, and had worked weekend, after school and holiday jobs, any work she could find. She had not had any friends through her last years of high school, so she had not spent any money on socialising, and by the time she graduated, she had a fairly decent amount saved. It also helped that when she had been accepted into university; her father had surprised her by giving her enough money for the deposit on an apartment. When she had questioned it, her father had just smiled and pulled her close. "I know that these last few years have been hard on you," he had whispered, "so just think of this as a thank-you for all those times you babysat Toby for us."  
  
She had felt a small twinge of guilt when he said this, but quickly shoved it away.  
  
That never happened. I never wished Toby to be taken by the goblins. It was all in my head!  
  
She had finally accepted the money, and after a few weeks of looking, had found the perfect place. It was a little larger than her father had wanted her to buy if she was going to be living by herself, but when she had walked into the apartment, she had known that it was the right one for her. There was a small balcony overlooking a park with French doors that opened into the lounge room; the bathroom had a deep bath as well as a shower; the kitchen was small but well equipped and her bedroom was big enough to fit her queen-sized bed, dressing table, wardrobe and bedside table in and still have room to move. There was also a second, smaller bedroom that Sarah had made into a study, with a large bookcase and a desk. It was also close enough to the Uni that she could walk or ride a bike if she wanted to, or catch a bus if she was feeling lazy.  
  
She was now very thankful for her apartment, as she had heard some horror stories about flatmates and boarding with other people from Joy and Chris. She had laughed and commiserated with them, but when she had offered to share her place with them, they had declined, saying that as much as they loved her, they would probably get on each others nerves if they had to live together. Sarah had secretly been happy. She valued her privacy greatly, and although living with them would have been fun, she had agreed with them. It would be the quickest way to lose what was a fantastic friendship.  
  
She put water on to boil and made herself a cup of coffee, then took it with her back into the lounge room. Pushing open the French doors, she stepped out onto her balcony, breathing in the warm dusk air. She balanced her coffee on the balcony railing and stretched, letting her body work out the kinks in her back. She pulled her hair into a bundle on top of her head to let the breeze sigh against her neck, and gently massaged the knots in the muscles of her shoulders with her free hand. Muted traffic and the laughter of children playing in the park harmonised with the wind whispering in the trees and the hum of the occasional insect. Sarah sighed again, but this time with a quiet happiness, then picked up her coffee and walked back inside. She left the doors open to let the breeze come through to cool down the flat, as it had grown quite warm during the day.  
  
She sat down on her couch and took a sip of her coffee, looking at her bag. Then, chiding herself for being silly, she pulled it towards her and grabbed the book from inside. As she pulled it out of the bag, the glittery swirls on the front cover caught the evening light and sparkled. Sarah stared at them, and then shook her head. She could have sworn she saw them move. Mentally shaking herself, she opened the book to the bookmark that Joy had placed within it and began to read.  
  
**_Spell for Meeting Mr Right  
_**  
Well, thought Sarah, so far so good!  
  
_With this particular spell, intention and visualisation is the key. You need to visualise the characteristics that you would like to have in your perfect lover. Be specific, but do not focus on a specific person. Trust that the universe will bring you exactly who is right for you.  
_  
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Trust the universe?" She shrugged and kept reading.  
  
_For this spell, you will need to raise energy by using sex magic.  
_  
Sarah gasped and blushed bright red. That means I'd have to....! She blushed harder, then giggled and shrugged. Ah, well, who's going to know? And if it works...! Then she remembered that Joy had thought that this particular spell was what Sarah had needed, and blushed harder. Wow, Joy must think I need to let off a little steam! Sarah giggled again, and then read through the list of "ingredients" that would also be needed for the spell and nodded. Nothing here that Sarah didn't already have lying around the house.   
  
Gulping down the last of her coffee, she took a quick look out the window at the dusky evening beyond and shrugged. No time like the present.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**  
  
Sarah ran her hand through the sweetly scented bath water then turned off the taps.   
  
Drying her hand on the towel, she picked up the book again and checked the instructions.  
  
_Light candles and place them around your bathroom. Run a warm bath and add your favourite bath crystals. Relax in the bath and let your mind think about the characteristics you would like in your perfect lover.  
_  
Sarah stood up and walked to the mirror. It had fogged over, so she wiped it free. In the candlelight, her pupils in the mirror looked enormous. She picked up her comb and quickly ran it through her long dark hair, then with a twist of her hand, piled her hair on top of her head and secured it with a clip. Turning back to the bath, she undid the tie of her bathrobe and shrugged it off, laying it over a chair, then stepped into the bathtub and sank into the scented water.   
  
Instantly, she felt her muscles start to relax. She wiggled slightly to get comfortable, then raised an arm to admire the way the water droplets glinted in the candlelight as they slid down her skin.   
  
Mmmmmm, she thought. Maybe this was just what I needed.  
  
She closed her eyes and wiggled further down into the water, until it was lapping against the underside of her chin. The bath was not long enough for her to lay out fully, but it was deep enough that the water nearly covered all of her except for her head and the tops of her knees.  
  
She felt the warmth seep into her bones and through her veins. She let out a sigh of contentment. Her mind wandered, then came back to itself with a jolt.   
  
I'm supposed to be concentrating, she reminded herself. If I'm going to do this, I might as well do it properly. Now, characteristics of my perfect lover....  
  
A vision of Jareth rose unbidden in her mind, but she pushed it away forcefully. No! She thought angrily, there is nothing in Jareth that I would want in my perfect lover! He is arrogant, cruel, and A FIGMENT OF MY IMAGINATION!   
_  
_She shook her head to clear her thoughts and began again. My perfect lover would be..... Considerate, she decided. Kind and loving, charming, good-looking, intelligent.....  
  
**_(Boring)_**_  
_  
She shook her head again. Where had that thought come from? Of course she didn't want someone boring! She wanted someone exciting, challenging......  
  
**_(Dangerous, wild, sexy, magical....)_**_  
_  
"Get out of my head, Jareth!" Sarah shouted out loud. Her voice echoed eerily off of the tiles, and the flames from the candles wavered gently.  
  
"Jareth.....Jareth.....Jareth...."  
  
She grimaced, and then giggled. What an idiot she was! She had Jareth on the brain all day today, no wonder she couldn't concentrate! She sighed deeply. Obviously, acknowledging Jareth as just part of a childish fantasy psychological construct was not going to make him go away any time soon. He was going to keep intruding on her thoughts, reminding her of things that she had thought long since put to rest. I guess he will disappear eventually, she decided, if I take the "ignore him and eventually he'll go away" attitude. Then she grinned. Just as long as he doesn't screw up my spell for a perfect lover! She wiggled her toes in the rapidly cooling water. Well, she decided, I guess that will have to do for the characterisations. I don't think I will be able to do any more thinking without Jareth interrupting!  
  
She stood up in the bath and pulled out the plug. Stepping out of the bathtub, she briskly rubbed herself down with a large, fluffy towel until her skin glowed pink, then slid back into her bathrobe. Picking up the book and one of the candles she had scattered around the room, she blew out the others and opened the door of the bathroom.  
  
A light breeze threatened the flame as she stepped into the lounge. "Funny," she mused, "I thought I had locked those." Placing the candle and the book on a side table, she walked towards the French doors. Pushing aside the billowing curtains, she stepped onto the balcony. The night air hit her bath-warmed skin, and she shivered, pulling her bathrobe closer around her. The moon had risen enough for her to make out vague shapes in the dark, and she glanced about to double check that nothing was amiss before stepping back through the French doors and locking them behind her. Picking up the flickering candle, she quickly stuck her head into the kitchen and the spare room, to double check that no unwelcome visitors had snuck in while she was bathing, and was relieved but not surprised to find that she was alone. Smiling to herself at her nervousness, she walked into her bedroom and shut the door.  
  
**_"......Jareth......Jareth......Jareth......."  
  
The whisper echoed down the dark corridors of the Castle. It bounced like a glittering crystal on the stairways of the Escher room; it whispered amongst the huddled lumps of sleeping goblins as they snored in the hallways; it poured like syrup into the throne room and gently mocked the figure reclining on the throne.  
  
His eyes glittered in the gloom, and his thin lips curved in a smile.  
  
"Sarah....."_****__**


	5. Chapter 5

AN: So, after way too many years, I've finally decided to put up a couple more chapters of this story. Sorry. There is no redeeming features of this story - it's just PWP, really. But with a little plot. Just a little.

****

**Chapter 5**

Sarah walked to her dressing table, and, placing the candle in a holder, she sat in a chair in front of the mirror. She opened the book at the bookmark and re-read the instructions.

_Seat yourself comfortably in front of a mirror with just a candle for light. Strip off all clothing until you are nude, and look at yourself in the mirror. See yourself as a beautiful person, as someone worthy of giving and receiving love. State your intention to find a perfect partner aloud, and that they should come to you with perfect love and perfect trust. Meditate on the characteristics that you would like. Ask that they manifest themselves in your life. Close your eyes and focus your thoughts until you have a clear picture of the type of person you want in your life. When you are ready, stroke your whole body to awaken it to subtle sensations, and then begin to masturbate. As you reach orgasm, concentrate your mind on the type of lover you desire, and then release the energy into the universe to help fuel the manifestation of your goal. Once you have reached orgasm, take a deep breath and say "It is done". This will finish the spell._

Taking a deep breath, Sarah closed the book and put it in front of her on the dressing table. She took another breath, and then raised her eyes to the mirror in front of her. The eyes looking back at her were nearly black, the pupils enlarged so much that they nearly overwhelmed all other colour. She reached up her hands and undid the clip that held her hair on top of her head. The dark, silky locks tumbled down around her face, and she grabbed a comb, pulling it through the strands and pushing them back from her eyes. She put the comb back on the table and dropped her hands to the tie on her robe. She watched her reflection as it undid the ties of the robe, and the edges of the robe swung open slightly. She shrugged her shoulders out of the robe and let it pool around her waist.

_In the depths of the Labyrinth, Jareth sat up straighter in his throne and spun a crystal on his fingertips. An image of her face appeared, and he slowly widened his view until it seemed as if she sat before him, combing her hair. He realised, then, that his view was one of her from her mirror. He drank in the sight of her, noting the changes that time had wrought in her features. Truly, she was no longer a child. His eyes narrowed as he studied her form. Why now, after so many years, was she calling to him?_

_He watched the robe fall from her shoulders, and his breath hissed from between his teeth._

_"Sarah..."_

She lifted her arms and ran her fingers through her hair. She stood up and pushed away the chair so that she could see her entire body in the mirror. She assessed her body thoughtfully. The long, slim legs; curvy, rounded hips; her flat stomach; small waist; small, high breasts; her long elegant neck; pouty, full lips; a small, slightly tilted nose; large brown eyes; and long dark hair. She looked back into the eyes in her reflection, and straightened her shoulders.

"I am beautiful."

She felt slightly foolish, but said them again.

"I am beautiful! I am beautiful, and I am worthy to love and be loved!"

She concentrated on the eyes of her reflection. She could see the candle flame reflected deep in the pupils, and it mesmerised her. As if from a distance, she heard herself say:  
"I ask that a perfect partner be sent to me. He shall be all I desire, everything I want, and everything I need. With him, I will find perfect love and perfect trust."

_Jareth leaned forward and stared into Sarah's eyes. He felt the draw of her power, and suddenly realised her intent. His grin widened as the echo of her words taunted him._

_"...be all I desire..."_

_"I will, Sarah, I will..." He breathed his promise._

She closed her eyes. Images, words, danced just behind her eyelids, and seemed burned into her retinas. In her mind, she reached for the words that she had thought of before to characterise her perfect lover, but they slipped teasingly out of her reach, and all she could remember was _dangerous, wild, sexy, magickal..._

_...Jareth..._

Her breath stilled. Is this really what she wanted? She mused. Was the reason her mind kept returning to Jareth because it was what she really wanted in a lover? The more she pondered, the more this idea felt right to her. She made up her mind. She would ask for someone who was like Jareth. Perhaps having a real-life substitute would appease whatever it was in her that yearned for him, and maybe this would finally exorcise him from her mind, from her dreams.

It made sense to her.

She summoned a vision of Jareth into her minds' eye. It sprang up with surprising ease, and in vivid detail. Is this the reason that no other man seems good enough? Because she had created a fantasy character that was so overpowering that other males seemed pale in comparison? She pushed aside the thoughts and concentrated on the vision until it seemed etched in her mind.

Then she took a deep breath and opened her eyes. She was ready to begin.

_He saw her close her eyes and he wondered what went on in her mind. She seemed to glow in the uncertain light, the shadows sliding over the curves of her body. As he watched, she seemed to come to a decision, and squared her shoulders._

_She opened her eyes. The flame seemed to dance in their depths._

She looked around at her bed. Well, she decided, she might as well be comfortable. She walked over to her it and sat on the edge. She had not realised it before, but she had a perfect view of herself in the mirror as she sat there. She closed her eyes and recalled the words from the book.

_When you are ready, stroke your whole body to awaken it to subtle sensations._

She raised her hands to her head and ran her fingers through her hair, her nails scratching gently against her scalp. She ran her fingers down her face, over her eyelids, her nose, her lips, her ears. Dragging her nails lightly down her neck, she shivered, even though the night was warm.

_Jareth, watching, shivered too._

She ran the palms of her hands over her breasts and nipples. They hardened at her touch. Her hands ran over her flat stomach, her rounded hips and down her thighs. She raised each leg in turn so that she could reach to her feet. As she sat back up, she ran her palms over her arms to her shoulders. She sat for a moment, feeling the way that her newly sensitised skin tingled. She swung her legs up onto the bed and lay out fully. She wiggled to get comfortable, then arched her neck and ran her fingers from her chin to her breasts. She cupped them gently in her hands and ran her thumbs over her nipples again. She sighed gently.

_Jareth closed his eyes briefly. He could nearly feel her sweet breath, the heat rising off her body. He swallowed hard and kept watching._

Her right hand left her breast and smoothed its way down her stomach to the soft hair at the juncture of her thighs. She hesitated for a split second...

_Jareth's eyes widened._

Then opened her legs and slipped her hand between them. Her breathing quickened as her fingers found her clitoris and gently caressed it. In her mind, she could see Jareth, how he had looked at her, how just the look in his eyes had made her feel weak at the knees. The memory sent a shiver through her and she moaned softly. She tried to focus her thoughts, but found it difficult to form a single coherent thought. Visions of Jareth's gloved hands spinning a crystal flashed through her head, and her body answered with a resounding throb that shook her from head to toe. Was there anything about him I didn't find sexy? she thought wildly. Her body responded by sending another shiver through her.

_Sarah's soft moans echoed through the throne room. Jareth smiled. She was still so innocent. There was still so much he could teach her, still so much he **would **teach her, given time._

She could almost imagine what it would be like to have him with her, to have him touching her. She imagined his lips on her breast, and tweaked her nipple lightly. The pleasure that shot through her had her arching her back and nearly screaming. She imagined him running his hands all over her body, over her belly, her thighs, and touching her intimately.

Then she thought of his face, his eyes looking deep into hers, and she nearly lost control.

_Jareth watched Sarah moan and arch her back. His fingers tightened their hold on the crystal until he thought it would nearly shatter in his grasp. He leaned towards it, drinking in the sight of her pleasure._

_"Sarah..."_

She...would...stay...focused...she...would...

Her body had other ideas. Jareth's eyes were all she could see in her mind, and she could almost hear him whisper her name. The thought pushed her over the edge and she arched her back as her world exploded into orgasm. Her eyes flew open, and she gasped.

"Jareth!"

_Jareth grinned in triumph._

_She was his._


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Sarah lay with her eyes shut, listening to her pulse slowly subside. Her muscles relaxed and she stretched. Then she remembered the last instructions in the book.  
She took a deep breath and let it out.

"It is done." She said softly.

"So it would seem. Tell me, do all your spells manifest themselves so impressively? Or is this just for my benefit?"

Her eyes flew open in horror and disbelief as the words penetrated the fogginess of her mind. She sat up quickly, her hand flying to her mouth.

The Goblin King lounged in her chair, one booted foot resting on the other knee. He tipped his head to one side and thoughtfully looked at the nude girl before him.

She stared back at him, disbelief warring with horror on her features. It suddenly dawned on her that she was naked, and she shrieked, scurrying off the bed to snatch her bathrobe from where it had fallen on the floor. She whirled back around to the chair.

It was empty.

She swung her head wildly from side to side, but the room was empty. Her heart was pounding. She raised a hand to her throat to slow down her pulse, then sank down on to her bed.

"Okay, Sarah, get a grip." She told herself shakily. "You were imagining it, that's all. You were so caught up in the spell that you imagined he was here." She drew a shaky breath, and raised her hand to push back her hair.

A movement out the corner of her eye made her turn quickly, but it was just her reflection in the mirror. She stared at herself. Her skin was still flushed, and her hair was slightly mussed.

_She looked like a girl who'd been thoroughly pleasured._

She rolled her eyes against the thought. She looked more like a harlot, she mused. Her bathrobe was bunched in one hand and held against her stomach. When she saw it, she smiled at herself, ruefully, and released her iron grip on the fabric. She slid it over her arms, pulled it closed and belted it tightly. She ran both hands over her hair and marvelled at the way they shook slightly. Wow, she thought. I need coffee.

She leaned over to her bedside lamp and turned it on. The light flooded the room, dispelling the last of the mystical air. Sarah stood up and walked towards the dressing table. She blew out the candle. Glancing up, she looked straight into the eyes of her reflection.

"Well," she told herself, "either you have an unbelievably powerful imagination, or you are going crazy. Take your pick." She smiled at herself, and then turned.

"Okay, talking to myself. Definitely time for coffee."

She pulled open her bedroom door and walked through the lounge and into the kitchen. She put the kettle on to boil, then pulled open the freezer.

"Damn, I thought I had ice cream in here." She rummaged through some bags of frozen vegetables and came up triumphant with a litre tub of choc-chip cookie-dough. Pulling a spoon out of a drawer, she ripped the lid off, scooped out a huge spoonful and shoved it in her mouth.

"Mmmmm," she groaned happily around the spoon. "Heavenly."

She walked into the lounge and up to the French doors, pulling them open and stepping onto the balcony. She sank into her deck chair and pulled the spoon out of her mouth. The ice cream melted in her mouth, and she swallowed it greedily as she scooped out another spoonful.

A person-sized shadow appeared at the other end of the balcony. She froze.

It took a step towards her and she shrieked and did the first thing that came to her mind. She threw her tub of ice cream at its head.

Jareth ducked as the tub flew towards him, but as it spun through the air, the spoonful of ice cream that Sarah had dug out splattered down the front of the dark velvet jacket Jareth was wearing, and through his hair.

He raised a hand to the stain on his jacket, and then lifted his hand to the thick globs coating his hair. Snapping his fingers, the ice cream disappeared. He looked at Sarah ruefully. She was staring at him in shock.

"You do have a knack for making me feel welcome, Sarah."

His voice broke through the spell that had held her dumb. She jumped to her feet and ran into the lounge room, slamming the French doors so hard they nearly shattered.

Jareth shook his head and vanished.

Sarah sagged against the doors, then turned and nearly shrieked again.

Jareth was stood in the middle of the lounge room with his arms crossed, watching her.

"Now, really, Sarah. You invited me here. The least you could do is be polite."

"You..." Sarah began, and then stopped. She closed her eyes, took a breath and started again.

"You are not real. You are a figment of my imagination. You do not exist."

Silence greeted her statement. When she peeked through her eyelashes, Jareth was regarding her with amusement.

"I beg to differ, Sarah. I can assure you that I am flesh and blood."

_...all I desire..._

She fought down the urge to giggle hysterically. "No." She shook her head for emphasis. "I must have fallen asleep after..." Her cheeks coloured as he tilted his head and raised his eyebrow, enquiringly. She remembered the expression on his face when he looked at her in the bedroom, and dropped her gaze from his. "And this is just a dream." She squeezed her eyes shut again and repeated the phrase _it's just a dream_ like a mantra under her breath.

When she dared to peep again, he was still stood in the middle of her lounge room. He grinned and shook his head. "Don't humans normally pinch themselves to find out whether they are dreaming or not?"

She stared at him, then down at her arm. Grabbing some skin on the inside of her elbow, she pinched it hard between her thumb and forefinger. It hurt. She tried again on the soft flesh of her upper arm, with the same result. Then she glared up at him.

He shrugged. "I could have told you that you were not dreaming, but I doubt you would have believed me." He gestured towards the marks on her arm that were slowly darkening to a livid bruise. "At least this way, you know for sure."

"But..." Sarah began, and then heard the kettle boiling. She shook her head. "I definitely need a coffee."


End file.
